Blood Sucking Freak!: The Life and Films of the Incredible Joel M. Reed

Legendary book

I've always found filmmaker Joel M. Reed a fascinating character, despite having only seen one of his films (BLOOD SUCKING FREAKS). Here author John Szpunar examines the six films of Reed's career with the director offering plenty of commentary on how (and, more importantly, why) each film was made. Reed has an insanely good memory, recalling the various players in his pictures and the locations where they were shot. Along the way various Reed cohorts are interviewed to give their thoughts on the man and his films. However, Szpunar's mission with the book is twofold. Not only does he chronicle Reed's eclectic career, but he offers a personal observation of the decline of New York City's seedier elements like 42nd Street at the turn of the 20th century. It offers a compelling dichotomy, showing that Reed's unique brand of cinema could only have been birthed and existed when the Big Apple was at its rotten best. A fantastic chronicle of a filmmaker and his environment.

While a lot of horror film fans know Joel Reed from his 70s Classic BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, little was known about him or his other works until now. Szpunar’s 20-years in the making tome is packed with info on Reed’s entire life and career, and features stories and insights you’re not going to find even on the deepest Internet search.Fans of exploitation cinema would do themselves a favor by exploring this world of a man who lives and breathes unusual cinema. Just fantastic all around.

Not only is John Szpunar's BLOODSUCKING FREAK a long overdue exploration of the work of filmmaker Joel M. Reed, the man who gave us the exploitation classic BLOODSUCKING FREAKS (you have never seen a movie like this!), it's also a window onto another time and place, back before gentrification, when Times Square was a grimy mecca for the most bizarre and degenerate films you could see in a theater. If you're a fan of Reed or the history of grindhouse cinema, this one's for you.

Joel Reed's Bloodsucking Freaks is an atrocious film in every regard and it was created by loons and goons. This entertaining oral history lays out the artistic crimes of director Joel Reed in breezy, entertaining fashion.

IT FINALLY CAME OUT!!! I’ve been waiting for this book forever. First the CONS: I’m not sure who thought this book having 2 columns per page was a smart idea but it’s pretty wonky. It’s not an attractive way to try to read it comes out more like a magazine article..Now the PROS: Joel is a fascinating and great man. His pedigree is in place from making the greatest b-schlock movie of ALL TIME!! I’m so honored to have this to remember and honor him. So freaking cool. Thanx!!

I loved the style in which this book was written, as much a travelogue of a New York City that no longer exists as a biography of a relentlessly fascinating man. Szpunar needs to write more books immediately.

I love the sordid world of American exploitation filmmaking - this is a fun dumpster dive into old New York and the life of one of its interesting bon vivants.